>> welcome to al jazeera america. i'm john seigenthaler in new york. here are the top stories. in nigeria new laws are in place that sharply limit gay rights. the president signed legislation banning same sex marriage in that country. activists say police arrested dozens of people. israel's defence minister apologised after issuing harsh words, calling kerry obsessive and messianic and said the plan for peace between israel and the palestinians was not worth the paper it was written on. the white house condemned the comment. chris christie admits that makes were made and what he said at the state of the state speech,

although thhe addressed the scandal he said bridge lane closures will not define him. >> thousands in west virginia can use the taps. freedom industry leaks, the company responsible for the spill, is under investigation. >> those are the headlines. "america tonight" is up next on al jazeera. i'm john seigenthaler. see you back here tomorrow night and remember you can get the latest online at aljazeera.com.

>> joining the conversation is joshua landi at the university of oklahoma. and nadir hashami, director of middle east studies at the university of denver. denver. joshua landis, let me start with you. whahas the united states made progress in stopping the fighting in syria. >> well, it hasn't made a lot of progress, . the worry on the talk, assad is

quite powerful on the ground. he has made a lot of advances. this leads to the concern that you would get rebel to the north and regime syria to the south. they don't want that. they want to overturn assad. their real beef is to hold the american's feet to the fire and make them deliver on this promise that they made at geneva one that assad would step down. they don't have the power to do that themselves

>> a lot of types, technology is available, and you would have to inform back and do software

changes. but to determine, this is the issue in terms of saving lives, and to be able to access 9-1-1 became so apparent in this tragic situation. >> of course. i want to talk beyond the office building or hotel building type of situation. we understand from your association that there were actually dead zones, where 9-1-1 is going to do nothing for you in this country. and we want to look at a map here. there are very large areas of the country where 9-1-1 is not an option. why? >> on the flip side of that, clearly 98% of the population has access to 9-1-1, but these areas can be outside of nowhere, national reserves or parks,

where nobody lives, and parts of the season, they're closed. there's no access to reach 9-1-1, so there are areas of the country that you can't access 9-1-1 because of the physical isolation if you will. >> but there are other reasons why maybe the system doesn't respond to the three digits. there are small rural communities. emergency service to dial the operator emergency services. in 1999, the law was passed to make 9-1-1 the national emergency number that everybody is aware. it's an amazing brand. everybody knows how to access it. >> they're going to reach every little kid in america. >> exactly, but there are situations such as these phone

systems services that require extra effort, if you will that access 9-1-1. >> or information, it's so heartbreaking to think of that family and that little girl. >> i want to compliment this little girl's efforts, and in many ways, she's a hero. >> she did everything that we taught her to do, and unfortunately it didn't work. coming up next, [ speaking french ] , the soap opera swirling around france's president, and how the entrance of another leading lady might leave him without a date. later in the program, america tonight follows up on the death of a mentally ill man, brutally beaten by police officers. why activists fear the verdict in this case may be the troubling sign of things to come.

>> embattled new jersey governor, cress chris, returned to the spotlight on tuesday afternoon to deliver his state of the state speech, under a dark cloud of suspicion. he took the washington bridge scandal head on. and he's trying to stop the controversy. but the democrats have the pedal to the metal. investigating last fall's lane closures at the country's busiest bridge, and his political aids as political retaliation. >> the mistakes were clearly made. and as a result, we let down the people we're entrusted to serve. we'll cooperate with all appropriate inquiries to make sure that this breech of trust does not happen again. >> governor christie's state of the state address lasted 45

minutes. the first two minutes devoted to the bridge scandal and he talked about crime and education, opting for longer school days and a shorter summer break for kids. >> we turn to the other side of the pond in france, with the president with his economic woes around the country, the french leader has trouble in the home front to deal with. and here we're talking domestic trouble. sheila has the tail. >> it broke friday. the apparent confirmation in what has been rumored in paris for months. the secret liaison between a beautiful actress, and france's president. she went to his apartment,

followed shortly by a helmeted man on the back of a motorcycle. the french president, in a feeble disguise, identified by his shoes. and the give away, the face of a presidential bodyguard, who arrived the next morning, bearing a bag of croissants. all of this will be a gallant shrug, if not for this woman, france's first lady, valerie. the pair are not married. but she has taken up residence in the presidential palace, and plays the role of the premier madam, and has a bodyguard, all paid for by the french state. first girlfriend, a role that is now in question. she was shocked, hit in the gut

by a speeding train, has been hospitalized since friday, with a severe case of the blues. from the presidential palace, there has only been a plea that private lives should be just that, until today. the president's new year press conference, an event as important on the french political calendar as the state of the union. 40 minutes of the french military questions, and then the first question, is valerie still the first lady of france if he ducks it, saying: >> i'm sure that i understand your question and i'm sure that you understand my answer. everyone can go through rocking times. that is the case. but i have one principle. private affairs are dealt with in private. and this is not the place to go into this. >> undoubtedly a well rehearsed answer, as he four more types

declined to clarify her state. for french president, olan, his approval stands at 20%, and even that fair is not going to help him. >> sheila, this is incredible. and first o after all, we thinke french being open-minded >> and as commentators made clear, we're not puritans like americans. >> but we want to bring onboard christopher dickey, with the daily beast. and you're speaking here as the paris editor this evening, and we want to give you equal time. we have you here, and you were at masseur olan's press conference, and chris, how is it seen? how is the event of the day? it was just terribly long. >> well, you know, the press

conference went on for well over two hours, and i think maybe three or four minutes in total were devoted to the questions of president olan's alleged affair with the actress. and that's all that everybody really wanted to hear about, because the other two hours and 8 minutes or so, were devoted to olan's talking endlessly about his economic programs, and the wars that he's waging in africa, and people had heard them numerous times before and there were almost no headlines in t so the question was, masseur president, would you tell us a few basic things, like what's going to happen to the first lady? you're not married to her, valerie, and you seem to have another lover, and she's in the hospital, seems to be suffering

from nervous exhaustion, and you're going to on a state visit to the united states on february 11th, and you know where the consort of the united states usually stands and sits around with michelle obama, and who is going to go with you? i mean, the question is, what was the status of valerie, as first lady. and he wouldn't answer it. >> he wouldn't answer it, and he said he would clarify it. he said before the visit to the u.s., he would clarify the position of valerie. >> maybe he's going to get a date. snow warning you have to know that people don't really like valerie. >> aka rottweiler. >> she established a reputation for being super protective of him and super protective of her own reputation, and very

vindictive of his previous partner and so she was not the most popular person. but now i will say there's kind of a wave of sympathy developing for her, because he's really leaving her twisting in the wind. it's one thing to say, well, you know, these are private matters, and you know its difficult to all of us, and then he says, we'll decide sometime before february 11th what her status is. i mean, can you imagine? >> to the french, does it matter that he hasn't been married to any of these women? >> one of the great mysteries of the age, francoise's flambe, pudding. >> he's not the magazine's man of the year or anything. >> but he ends up with these

incredibly attractive and tempt and interesting women. and how that happens, it's clearly a mystery, but he has something going for him. >> is there some sense that the french admire that at some level. >> not really. i think that there's very little that the french admire about francoise. when you have that% range, you're unpopular in france. nobody has been this unpopular as president, especially 18 months into the administration. so there's nothing about this that's making him popular, but on the question of his charm, apparently there's quite a lot of it. i talked in the last couple of days, two or three women who covered his campaign, and spent some time in proximity to him. they said, he really is charming. very funny, he has great timing, he's super smart.

and when he gets up in front of people, he's completely uninspiring and trying to be presidential, and he was flat. >> the french do have this reputation for being -- it's not approving but accepting of the complicated love lives of their presidents. >> there's a lot of history. one had a secret family. >> the president, his wife left him for another man, and came back for the campaign, and left him again as soon as he was elected, and them he, on the rebound, married carla bruni, a super model. so it's not like we don't have

help and women, but the problem with oland, he looks kind of ridiculous, and this is a country right now that needs a leader and not a lover. if you see the pictures that started the scandal, of the slightly pudgy guy, riding under a motorcycle helm. and riding number two on a motorcycle to go see his lover, you just shake your head and say, oh, please no. and that's what the people react to. >> and as chris said, france needs lip. unemployment is high, and the economy is a mess. france is europe's second highest economy, and the notion that this president has been distracted at a time when people need real direction going to do him any favors. >> a bad moment domestically, and we thank you both for being

with us. thank you. after the break on america tonight, the death of a mentally ill man, beat by the police. why the homeless in a southern california community fear more trouble lies ahead.

>> now a snapshot of people making headlines on america tonight. in west virginia, water is back on, but new caution. tens of thousands can turn on the water after the chemical spill near charleston, but in kentucky, systems stopped drawing water from the same river, just as a precaution fist. >> ? in florida, a retired police captain is being held for the fatal shooting of a moviegoer. they argued because the man was texting on his phone.

and he told investigators that he was afraid of being attacked foo e. >> at a new mexico middle school, two teenagers were shot by a 7th grader. children had father today a gymnasium to get out offed cold. one of the kids is in critical condition. the story that we brought you last month. excessive force and how to deal with the mentally ill. in fullerton, where 40-year-old schizophrenic, thomas. >> what made is such an exception, how so much of it was caught on tape. >> start punching, dude. >> and it was readily visible to others. a camera on a passing bus

recorded other witnesses. >> all of these. >> what happened? >> i have no idea. >> badly beaten, thomas died five days later. two officers faced second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter and they said they needed to. charges were filed two years after the int. two were acquitted on monday. and one will ask for his job back. charges on the third officer were dropped. the vid had. >> part of me died that night with kelly. part of me died that night. and part of me died in court.

i feel dead inside. >> the decision to literally acquit them on all charges is very shocking. at least at a bare minimum of force. and they didn't even get that. he was standing talking to them, no threat to them, arms were crossed, a living, healthy human being, minutes later, he was lying in his own pool of blood, taking his last minutes of air, and they're going to walk away free. >> in your mind, this is not an abrasion, some unique situation of force being used to excess.

>> no, not at all. this happens all over the united states and many parts of the country. but i get contacted from all over our nation, specifically here in southern california. people want to know if i can help with their cases. i hear about it all the time. and all of us hear it, all of these things happening, where law enforcement is killing people, beating them and tasing them to the point where they die, and it's not necessary at all. and they shouldn't be doing this. >> we should point out that you're former law enforcement itself. and you have an appreciation for the challenges of law enforcement in difficult situations, and you said yourself that there needs to be a change to the california police officer bill of rights. and what could be changed to alleviate situations like this? >> what would help with this, we get a change in the peace officer bill of rights, i want t

want to know their personal information, where they live and all of that, but what i want people to know in their personnel files, if they were disciplined, were they disciplined and what was the result of that? were they reprimanded or what? we, the people who pay their salaries, have the absolute right to know this. the argument, it's against the law because of a bill of rights. but when they're doing it, when an officer gets a medal for doing something heroic, which i appreciate, it's on the news, it's everywhere, and that's part of his personnel file also, so they have been doing it all along. so i don't want them to pick and choose when to follow it. here again, we have law enforcement doing what they want with the law. and they don't have to follow it still. we, the people, have an absolute right to know if our peace officers are being disciplined, and does it help hold them in

check? >> in this particular case already, one of the officers who was acquitted said he wanted to return to the force and was going to fight for his job. >> i don't doubt that. i don't know which one it is, but i would imagine it would be sentinely. i would imagine that it would be him. he was a corporal and testing for sergeant and he was a good officer at one point. but not on july 11th. he was a good officer, and he made bad zigs, and for somebody of that caliber, testing for sergeant who openly states that he had no other option but to be kelly's face to hell, he doesn't belong in law enforcement. he never once said, kelly, you've had enough. he never said anything like that. he continued to beat him and beat him, those were his only options? he doesn't need a job in law enforcement. >> and human rights and civil issues, that's your hope that it would be pursued.

>> they told me on day one, the department of justice, they would follow this case, and they told me that they couldn't do anything until the case was over. i'll work with them closely and find out in any way that they can. in orange county, they will share with me and i talked to them in the last 2 and a half years, and hopefully they will prevail. >> can i ask you what you heard in court and what you know about this case, what do you think it was that influenced the jury's decision? why they came to this verdict? >> the persistence of the defense attorneys, and it's unfortunately, no matter what the case is, they're not bound by law to tell the truth. these attorneys went at it with that. claiming that kelly had a chronic meth habit and it damaged his heart and all of

these fallacies. it's not true, several drug tests throughout the years showed that kelly never tested positive for any substances, and nevertheless, they got the story and stuck with it, and the prosecution never rebutted it. they brought in defense again kelly to tear him down, and the prosecution had supportive witnesses for kelly and didn't bring him. rob thomas' father, thank you. >> are police officers trained to deal with those who are mentally ill? you heard kelly thomas' father. and you heard where he's at and you heard many cases involving the mentally ill and law enforcement in conflict swayings, and what do you think it comes to? when the jury sees this, is it law enforcement that they're trying to deal with? >> a lot of people or juries

don't want to question what the police do. they don't understand police work, and they don't understand the responsibilities of police officers in these cases. >> but they want to stay home with the folks on the street. >> exactly, when you see a shaggy homeless person on the street, do you go up and talk to them? no, you walk the other way. most of us do. most don't want anything to do with these people because we fear that they might be dangerous and they might do something that we don't expect. and so people who are not trained to deal with the mentally ill approach them with all sorts of misconceptions, and a lot in some cases of unjustified fears. >> some of this has to do with the privilege of the mentally ill on the streets of this country. i was just, over the weekend in seattle, and i was struck by the number of homeless folks, and the number of people who clearly were dealing with issues.

and i look at this, and it must be a tremendous challenge for law enforcement. >> yeah, law enforcement has become the top of mental health delivery. we had 4,000 inpatients who were in the hospital. and now they have 400. where did those other 3600 people go? they're out on the streets. some of them getting treatment. and many of them not. there have been many studies that show that over half of the homeless population have some form of serious mental illness. >> and so too, the critical question, what does law enforcement do? should there been training? what else can you do? >> it's a combination of both training and temperament. >> they're not going to be psychiatrists. >> you would be surprised. i know hundreds of people in law enforcement who are just as good, just as skilled at being

able to communicate with mentally ill people in crisis situations as any psychiatrist that i know. they have both the training and the temperament to do that. you know, i think back to when i was talking to you in august, we had a situation where a mentally disturbed person came into an elementary school. antoinette huff, with no training, an administrative aid in the school talked a mentally ill man into putting his weapon down, and that's the temperament that you need and she had no training whatsoever. >> in this particular situation, as mr. topas said, one of the individuals was corporal, and how much training can you give that person in and should that be the obligation of law enforcement to deal with? >> this is something that society has hoisted on law enforcement. the two institutions that housed

the most mentally ill people in the country, the l.a. county jail and cook county jail in chicago. not hospitals but prisons. my last assignment working at st. elizabeth was to set up the diversion program in dc, where we train police officers not to make the first move to arrest a mentally ill person, who is creating some kind of trouble, but to get them back in treatment. those are the kinds of programs that are proven over and over again to be the most effective. one of the programs came out of the memphis model in tennessee. and they have proven to be very very effective. unless funds are given to mental health systems, police are going to have to do these jobs. >> thank you very much for helping us understand this difficult situation. >> thank you.

>> after the break, there's more to t an america tonight look at a well oiled machine. how gm is powering up for the long haul with a new honor.

>> on america tonight, we're dedicated to following up on the

highs and lows of the stories, even after they're headlines. and tonight, there's more to t when it comes to the chevy silverado, which on monday was named the truck of the year in detroit. involved in building the truck in michigan. shared vision between labor and management and obsessive focus on high quality, created a ray of hope for homicides. america tonight brings us inside of the plant. in a city often singled out for its high homicide rate, and deteriorating home, it may be hard to fonda source of pride. but inside of this truck factory, there's a lot to be proud of in flint, michigan. over a 24-hour period in general motor's flint assembly plant,

clusters of metal and parts will be put together like puzzles. they will be tightened and tested, cleaned and quality checked. eventually rolling off the line is one of the country's most popular pickups. the chevy silverado, or the sierra heavy-duty truck. >> what makes this $55,000? what's extra? >> you're getting a 6.6 turbo, the most powerful engine that we have. >> the plant is an island of productivity in an industrial wasteland. acres are vacant, after a factory eliminated 10,000 automotive jobs in flint. but the oldest fracti survived the near death in flint, the company bankruptcy, and the

shutdown of 17 facilities across the country. they have emerged humbled and a new approach to teamwork. it wasn't easy. it required the union and the management to come to the same side of the table and focusing on a common goal that the american people would want to buy. >> yes, it's expensive, but it's built in such a way that it helps the economy. farmers, ranchers, construction workers. i mean, the people who are the true backbone of our economy, need trucks like this to do their job. >> how many trucks come through here a day? >> more than 700 a day. and that's a lot when you think about three shifts. >> i've been at gm19 years. yes. 19 years. >> deandre jackson works the

first shift. the flint father leaves home before the sun comes up so he can make it to the truck plant by 7:00 a.m. >> we spend more time here with the people at work than you do at home sometimes. i met my wife here. i was driving materials to her area, and we began to have a conversation, and turned into a movie and a movie turned into a marriage, i guess, so yes, it's a community here. it's like family. >> the plant depends on its family of nearly 2700 ruin employees like jackson to manufacture trucks around-the-clock. >> if the job down the line doesn't do his job, i can't do mine. >> plant employees developed a renewed sense of gratitude for their jobs after the shutdown of

so many around the state. the uncertainty of their future forced union and management to focus on collaboration. and they put trust in each other. >> we're all engaged. not just general motors. we have two hands together engaged in the direction out there, and how we're going to be successful. and that's how we have to survive. >> barry campbell is the chairman of united auto workers. he said there was a time when contention hindered morale. and they were more concerned about quantity than quality. >> does that mean that certain things were allowed to slide by? >> i wouldn't say that, but it was get these out and we'll fix them later. and the urge see to be better has changed since the bankruptcy, and we don't take

anything for granted anymore. >> each worker has the power to stop a section of this line. all they have to do is pull the cord, and the production stops. >> that's very important. we're here to make quality. if i see something that's not right, or one of my guys within my team, we have the ability to stop the line and call a supervisor over and say, hey, check this out. they really let the team leaders here be actively involved in coming up with new ideas to make a better truck. >> have you submitted any ideas? >> yeah, me is my team implement a lot of suggestions. >> what works in this plant is the fact that we work together. it is 100% the secret for our success. if there were one silver bullet, that's it. >> amy farmer is the director of manufacturing operations in flint. she's proud that the improved

labor-management relationship and the quality has paid off. the truck has received recognition from jd power and associates two years in a row. and the silverado was named truck of the year at the international auto show in detroit. >> we have earned the right to be part of the future and part of the future growth. and we fully intend to stay on it. >> no doubt, to be able to drive by and see a place that's open for business and trucks coming off of the back of it, nothing gives me more pride than to drive down the highway and see a collar full of print-made trucks. and this is a bright spot. >> this is a report -- >> made in america, inside stories talk about the comeback now unfolding at gm. and quite a bit of activity at

gm now. quite a bit this week, and the new ceo coming into play, and what's happening at gm and particularly at flint? >> i think that a lot of things are being discovered. they started happening several years ago, and the company, as a company hit bottom during the crash. flint always did reasonable well because people loved their pickup trucks, but the crash really pushed the factory and went on two shifts in 2011. so i think what's going on now, a discovery of a bunch of things going on in the entire company. >> so you wrote specifically about this plant. and you have been there, and you have seen it. are there lessoned that other manufacturers have or can learn? >> yeah, i think there are. one of the things, i always tell the story of flint. when i was there, i was being toured around by a uaw guy, and he was very saying, and product

management, he was focused on quality. and while he was giving me the tour, someone hit a button and they had safety effects, and they shut down. >> no safety issues at all? >> they just shut the plant down because they didn't want to ship anything with the defects >> so this represented a change in thinking over the years? >> of course. when you heard someone who worked on the line for 35 years say in person, the shift on focus has been dramatic, and you realize that a cultural change has taken place. when i spoke with the person who ran the plant, they spoke of the inverted pyramid, where the top of the pyramid is the line worker and it's focus on quality. >> it's not just focusing on quality. but restructuring and thinking

between the manage. and the union. >> you can only have so much between union and management because there are rules and contracts and everybody has certain rights. but i will agree with you. there has been a change in the attitude. when you're looking at death when the company went bankrupt. and plus, hires coming in at a much lower wage, which has made the plant more viable and makes people happier. >> not only in flint, but in the auto industry, and in detroit? >> i'm not going to say detroit. but there's a renaissance in manufacturing in general. a boston consulting group calls it boston america. and it's based on cheap energy, and a lower cost labor force, and it's based on people with skills, coming back to manufacturing that have been laid off, and there's a myth that there's a lack of skilled workers in the country. there's a lack of pay for skilled workers in the country. and as other costs are pushed

back, they are coming back to work in manufacturing. it's not really noticeable to you and me who live in factories and cities, but there's a renaissance going on. >> with respect on the auto industry itself, and with the auto show, other things are happening here too. ford, with the aluminum truck. >> in the auto industry, they were selling less than 11 million units a year, and now it's over 15, and you're looking at a 40% bounce, and you have a slew of product designs from chrysler, from general motors and from ford. the f-150, more aluminum than anything ever made. because they have to get into the weight limits, and the gasoline requirements in the new requirements by congress. there's a lot of innovation going on. with what we see in the cab, but

a lot of stuff going on under the hood. and when you talk about trucks in flint, they have always done trucks better, and the bottom line, this is not limited to general motors, but it's the auto manufacturers in the auto industry. >> glad to hear it. thank you very much. and ahead in our final thoughts this evening. cue the candle lights. giving residents and thespians an enlightening experience.

>> london audiences going back in time to experience the theater of the 17th century, the playhouse that's opening its doors on the site of the globe theater. backstage, how london theater goers are getting an authentic experience by candlelight. >> beneath the light of candle chandeliers, a timeless tragedy

plays out. >> we'll sleep together. >> how nice, what pleasure can two lovers find? >> a beautiful woman marries for love, angering her corrupt and jealous family, and unleashing a wave of brutal violence. the duchess of malakhovy is a masterpiece. >> we look to historic examples. it's a little bit like writing an essay. you have an idea, but you have to back it up a lot with footnotes. >> the playhouse is the creation of shakespeare's globe, the company behind the famous theater on the bank side. so they're bringing theatrical history back to life. seating, just 340 people.

the design and lighting all specifically created in jack observian style. the era began in 1603, when the king of scotland took the throne of england. it was a time when shakespeare was writing his plays, and middleton, and johnston were also pushing drama forward in this period. >> in some places, very dark. and it's one of the horror films.

>> now his vision is finally released, the plays can be put on indoors with the wet and winter months. the show must go on of course. aljazeera, london. >> that's it for us, if you would like to comment on any type of the stories you've seen, log onto the website. can you meet our team and tell us what you want to see in our nightly current affairs program. join the conversation with us on twitter or our facebook page. and guess what, we'll have more america tonight tomorrow.

>> this is aljazeera america, i'm thomas drayed in new york with the top stories at this hour. dozens of people have been arrested under new laws in algeria that ban gay rights. same-sex marriage and gay rights organizations. oklahoma may be one step closer to legalizing same-sex marriage. a judge has called the ban on it unconstitutional. he said that it violates the protection clause in the 14th amend many. it's on hold until a similar case in utah is decided n et. >> apologizing